


When the whole world fits inside of your arms

by Dylanobrienisbatman



Series: Echo Positivity Week [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Echo Appreciation Week, F/M, First Kiss, Forehead Kisses, Forehead Touching, Foster Care, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, POV Echo, Road Trips, Sharing a Bed, Supportive Relationship, finding each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-05 17:06:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16371656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dylanobrienisbatman/pseuds/Dylanobrienisbatman
Summary: Echo and Bellamy meet when shes just a teenager, living in a foster home with his sister. For a couple of years, they start becoming friends, but then he gets custody of Octavia and she thinks she'll never see him again. Thankfully the universe had other plans.





	When the whole world fits inside of your arms

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 of Echo Positivity Week!  
> Prompt: Favourite Fanfiction Trope!
> 
> I couldn't decide so I did childhood friends to lovers, bed sharing, and mutual pining!

Echo was 14 when she met Bellamy.

She had been in a girls home for almost a month when a little girl, 10 years old, was dropped off.

She wasn’t like other girls in the house, though. Most of them started off timid and afraid, sitting quietly and hiding away. But not this girl.

She came through the door like she was on fire.

Octavia, was her name. Echo admired her, at first. She was a brave little spitfire. But that quickly dissipated.

Octavia was mean, and unforgiving. She was vicious to everyone around her.

It wasn’t that Echo didn’t understand Octavia, she understood perfectly. She understood the anger they all felt. But Echo kept her own anger locked inside, and Octavia threw it at the whole world.

She wasn’t sure Octavia even knew how to be kind, or warm, or loving, until family visiting day.

Echo was siting off in the backyard alone, like she always did on family visiting day, when a tall lanky boy, no older than 15, came out back.

“Is Octavia out here? I can’t find her.”

Octavia had family?

“No. She might be on the roof. She likes to sneak up there sometimes.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “Of course she does. Thank you….?”

She just stared at him, until she realised he was asking her name.

“Echo. I’m Echo. You’re welcome.”

“Nice to meet you Echo, I’m Bellamy.”

“Nice to meet you Bellamy.” She said, and watched as he turned away and headed towards the house.

“First bedroom on the third floor, the left window is the one that leads out onto the flattest part of the roof.”

He turned back and smiled, nodding, and went inside.

He came every other week, to visit Octavia. He was the first one there very morning, and the last one to leave every night. The first few times he would just smile at her, but after a few months, he would sit with her while he waited for Octavia.

He tried to get to know her, just a little. He never asked about why she was in the home, or her family, or her past. Nothing too deep. Just superficial things, like her favourite books, her favourite movies. But it was still nice.

But as soon as Octavia would emerge from where ever she had been, he would politely excuse himself, and she wouldn’t speak to him again until he would say good bye on his way out the door.

This went on for almost 6 months, and then one day he showed up, and Octavia wasn’t home.

He found her in the backyard, laying in the grass, soaking up the summer air.

“Have you seen my sister?” He asked, concern filling his voice.

She sat up, shaking her head.

“No, sorry. She didn’t come back home last night. She stayed late at school with a friend, I think she might have gone for a sleepover or something. I’m sure she’ll be back later.”

He just groaned, flopping down onto the grass near her.

“I think she’s annoyed that I come so much. I think she think’s I’m smothering her.”

She just looked at him.

“Why does she live here? Why doesn’t she live somewhere with you?”

“We both ended up being put in group homes, and they could only find a boys home and girls home close enough to each other. There weren’t any co-ed homes in the area with two spots, and no families wanted to take a 16 year old who basically acted like an adult, and his 10 year old sister.”

“What happened to get you guys in homes?” She asked.

“My dad was never around, and Octavia’s dad left before she was born, so it was just our mom, and… then she died.” He was wringing his hands in his lap, and clenching his jaw, so she didn’t ask.

“My parents both died when I was a baby. I was adopted by a lady named Nia when I was just 7 months old, but once I got older she didn’t… want me. So she just…. sent me back into the system. I was like 6. I bounced from home to home for a while, but it never stuck, and so they put me here. It’s alright here. Just lonely.”

“I’m sorry.”  
“I’m sorry too.”

They sat in silence for a minute, and then she said the stupidest thing she’d ever said.

“I think Octavia being annoyed with you is terrible. You care for her, and she doesn’t show you the same care.”

She knew it was the wrong thing to say the minute the words came out of her mouth, but there was no taking them back.

She watched his face stone up, his eyes go dark.

“Well, no one asked you.” He said, spitting through his teeth. He stood, and walked away, before she had a chance to even try.

He kept coming, ever other week, early in the morning.

She kept watching as Octavia took advantage of him.

Sometimes she wouldn’t even come home, leaving him to sit around the house all day waiting.

Sometimes she’d come home, and sit with her friends in the house who didn’t have visitors while he sat off to the side and just watched.

He started bringing books with him, to pass the time.

Every so often she would spend the whole day with him, and Echo started trying to listen and find out what the difference was, but she couldn’t ever figure it out.

He didn’t speak to her for almost a year.

And then he did.

He came back into the backyard, 18 years old and filling out, still tall, with his dark hair flopping in his eyes, his pants a little too short, resting above his ankles, his glasses crooked on his face. He walked over and plopped down on the grass next to her.

“I saw that it’s your birthday today, on the calendar.”

“Yep. 16 years old.” She said, staring up at the cloudy sky. She hoped it would rain, the summer heat had been dry and exhausting. She hated summer.

“Happy birthday.” He said, and held out a small wrapped package.

She shot up.

“What?”

“This is for you. I saw it last time I was here. I remember you telling me your favourite book was The Great Gatsby, so I got you something.”

“Why would you do that. You don’t even like me.”

“I shouldn’t have gotten so mad.” He said, staring down at his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have said what I said, about Octavia. It wasn’t my place.”

“Doesn’t mean you weren’t right. She has always kind of treated me like this, since our mom died. We got passed around a few times, before she came here, and it was the same there too. She blames me.”

“It still wasn’t my place.”

He pushed the gift into her hands, and stood.

“She’s not here, is she?” He asked, rubbing his hands over his face.

“I don’t think so. I haven’t seen her.”

“Right. I think I’ll just go home then.”

“Or you could stay.” She said, before she could stop herself. “Maybe… stay? And we could just hang out. She might come back later?”

He smiled at her, softly, and then nodded, sitting back in the grass and pulling his book from his backpack, gesturing to the gift.

She gently opened the paper, folding it up into a small square, and then picked up the thick book it had been wrapped around.

The complete works of F. Scott Fitzgerald.

“This is… Thank you.” She said, running her fingers over the front cover.

“You’re welcome.” He said, and cracked open his own book.

She didn’t tell him that this was the first birthday gift she had ever gotten, even from when she was a little kid.

The year was more of the same. Bellamy would come, and if Octavia wasn’t around, he would hang out with her. It happened often, and by Christmas, she would probably have called him her best friend.

And then he turned 19, and finally found an apartment of his own, and after a year of fighting, about 3 more months later the court granted him full custody of a then 13 year old Octavia.

The day he came to pick her up was one of the hardest days of Echo’s life.

She was happy for him, and Octavia, that they were getting out of the system, that they were going to get to be together.

But she was going to go back to being completely alone.

Her 17th birthday passed without notice.

She started to just accept it. The loneliness.

Her 18th birthday came, and even though she hadn’t seen Bellamy in over a year, she some how expected him to walk through the door.

He didn’t.

She wondered if he still lived nearby.

She wondered if he was doing alright.

She would have asked for his phone number, on his last day, if she had a phone.

She should have asked for his address.

Her senior year of high school was flying by. She applied to as many colleges as she could think of, and ended up with a full ride offer to three separate schools.

Her social worker drove her to her college visits.

Her name was Luna, and she was lovely. Big curly hair and a kind soul. She kept telling Echo how proud she was of her.

It still felt like her social worker was with her. She still felt alone.

Until she toured the last school, Appalachian State University, and Bellamy Blake was her tour guide.

The schools had sent individual tour guides to show her around, because she was a soccer player that they wanted on their team, and also academically she excelled. The first two schools had sent great people, but… Bellamy.

She tried to play it cool, when she saw him waiting for her across the foyer of the admin building, but when he looked up, he just smiled, big and bright, and she ran across the room and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“I’m so sorry I never came back, I’m so sorry I felt you alone.” He whispered into her hair, holding her close. “I barely had time to breathe with two jobs and school, and Octavia, but I should have come back. I’m so sorry.”

“I just thought you forgot about me.” She whispered into his chest, holding him tight. He still smelled the same. Like Old Spice deodorant, Tide laundry detergent, and something floral, which she always guessed was because he used the same shampoo as Octavia.

“Nope. How could I?”

They held each other for a minute, she was sure they looked insane, and then she pulled back a little, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and led her out onto the street for the tour.

He told her all about the school, leading her up and down River Street, showing her where the different academic buildings where. He led her to Sanford Mall, the quad, and showed her the beautiful library. He led her down the hill towards the other end of campus, the beautiful trees surrounding the whole place. She was entranced.

“Do you like it here?” She asked him. She was already pretty sure the campus was her favourite, the academics were stellar, and the team was good enough to play for, but also in enough of a rut that they were willing to pay her more to come, because they needed her. The last thing she needed to know was what Bellamy thought.

“I do. It feels… like a real community. I love that it’s a bigger school, but not so big you feel lonely. The campus is beautiful, the professors are great, the classes are small, and they offer all kinds of interesting things. I think you’d like it too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah… I mean I’d also like it if you came here… because I miss you. But I think you’d be happy here, even without me.”

She signed with Appalachian the following week.

And she asked for Bellamy’s phone number before she left that day, because her job meant she had her own phone now.

They talked on the phone all the time, after that.

The Christmas holiday came and went, and August was looking closer and closer. The time waiting felt easier, knowing that she knew where she was going to be, and knowing that she had not just college, but _Bellamy_ to look forward too when she got there. Spring finals ended, and a day she had been waiting for but also dreading was on the horizon.

High school graduation. Three weeks away.

She wasn’t dreading graduating. She was thrilled to finish high school. She was dreading the ceremony, knowing she was going to be alone.

Her group home mom said she might come, but she wasn’t sure she could, with all the kids.

Luna promised she would be there, which was nice.

She called Bellamy one night, and let it all out.

When he answered the phone, she could tell she had woken him up.

“What’s up?” He said, his voice heavy from sleep.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot about the time difference I just…” She peered over at her clock, which read 11pm. “It’s too late there, I’ll just talk to you later.”

“Echo. What’s wrong?”

She wanted to fight it, but the words just spilled out of her.

“Luna is great, and I don’t want her to think I’m not grateful. She goes above and beyond for me. She treats me like I’m her family. But… having one social worker there to cheer for me, to hug me, to congratulate me… It’s just… It’s just another moment where I remember that there isn’t anyone there for me. No one to catch me if I fall. No one to celebrate me.”

He just hummed, because he knew she wasn’t done. Her heart swelled.

“And i know you kind of understand, but you have always had Octavia. Which isn’t like parents, i’d never want to say you-“

“E, I know.”

“But you have her. She’s not your government appointed anything. She’s your _family._ I just wish I had that… that’s all.”

“I know what you mean.” He said. “Hey, it’s almost 2 am here, and I have a final in like 7 hours, but we’ll talk about this more tomorrow.”

He called the next day, after his last exam, and they talked.

They talked about how she just didn’t want to be reminded, again, about how alone she was in the world when she walked across that stage in 2 weeks time. He let her vent until she was just repeating herself over and over, and when they hung up, she felt better.

She always felt better when she talked to him. He ended their conversation by reminding her that they only had 2 and a half months until she was going to be with him at school, and she wouldn’t be alone ever again. She tried to ignore how it made her heart leap into her chest.

She had been reminded how much she missed him when she saw him again, and over the year, as they talked, she just felt it growing inside her like a weed, one she couldn’t tamp down.

He thinks of you like a sister, she’d remind herself. Don’t ruin the one good thing you have by putting feelings in the way.

She wasn’t sure she’d be able to make it go away, but she was sure she could press it down and hide it.

He never had to know that she was in love with him.

The two weeks passed without much incident, and graduation day came crashing down on her. She woke up, and got dressed in her nice graduation dress that Luna had helped her pay for, pulled on the horrible polyester robe, grabbed her bag and her tasseled hat, and walked to the school.

She sat with her friends while they waited for the ceremony, and then they walked in, with the processional loud in their ears. She sat through the speeches, and stood quietly in line as she walked up to the stage.

She walked up the stairs, and they called her name, and she was so focused on trying not to trip, she almost missed the loud cheering from across the stadium. She turned, and there he was.

Standing next to Luna, in a button up shirt and slacks, flowers in his arms, was Bellamy.

She didn’t trip walking back to her seat either, but that was really saying something since she wasn’t sure she even knew where she was anymore.

She followed the motions of the group like a zombie, pulling her tassel over, standing and walking out, and once she got out onto the grass, got giddy.

He was here.

He had come all the way here, to Washington state, from North Carolina… just for her.

She saw Luna’s hair before she saw him, which wasn’t surprising, and she planned to run, but found herself locked in place.

He hadn’t seen her yet, but she could see him.

He was a little more broad, and a little more tan. His hair had grown out and it flopped down around his face in cute curls, and he had a scruff growing on his jaw. His white shirt was rolled to the elbows, unbuttoned at the neck, and she was pretty sure there had never been a more beautiful man in all of history.

He looked up, like he could feel her, and when their eyes met, he barely smiled, and just lifted his arms up and shrugged, as if to say “what else was I going to do.”

She didn’t run, and neither did he, but before she knew it she was wrapped around him, her face buried in his neck, breathing in his smell, clinging to him like he would evaporate into the air if she didn’t hold him close enough.

“Congratulations, E. I’m so proud of you.” He whispered into her hair right above her ear, and he leaned back a little press a kiss into her forehead, holding her close.

“I can’t believe you came all the way here… how did you… why would you… I don’t…”

“Classes finished a couple days after you called, and Octavia is 16 now, so I just had my friend Miller come over and check in on her, and I hopped in my car and drove.

“You drove here?”

“Yeah, took me like 5 days give or take. Stayed with some school friends who live along the way.”

“You… you drove 5 days to be here for… me?”

“Of course I did.” He said, rubbing his hand over the back of his neck, like he was half embarrassed.

“You didn’t… I mean… This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“I figured… I never came back for you, those years ago, so it was probably time I did.”

She let herself be pulled back into him, and held him close.

She eventually broke away, and Luna hugged her too.

“Echo, I’m so proud of you. Look at all you’ve accomplished.”

“Thanks Luna. I definitely wouldn’t have made it without you.”

“Oh I know.” She said, smirking, and Echo laughed, pulling her back in for a hug.

“But really… thank you.”

The three of them went to dinner, Luna’s treat, and then she and Bellamy stood in the parking lot.

“I didn’t wan to ask at dinner, because I thought it might be weird and I didn’t want to put any pressure on you, but… do you need to stay here this summer?”

“What do you mean?” She said, feeling her hopes rising in her body, starting at her fingers and toes. She tried to smash them down but they didn’t listen.

“Well.. you have to make it to Boone eventually, and the apartment we live in right now is loosing a roommate this weekend actually, so if you wanted to just… come back with me. You could just live with us, me, Octavia, and our roommate Lexa, until school got started in August. You could get used to the town, and stuff, and then you wouldn’t just b-“

“Bell, that sounds awesome.”

“Yeah?” He said, a little sheepish.

“Yeah. I was pretty much dreading this summer, living in that house until my 19th birthday, then having to find my own place for only a couple of weeks, before I had to find my way to school. It was going to be a lonely, stressful, boring summer. I’d leave right now if you wanted.”

“Well, I’m exhausted, but why don’t we leave Saturday? Give you a few days to get your stuff together, and quit your job, and say goodbye to people?”

Saturday. Three days away. It seem like ages.

“Saturday sounds great.” She said, instead.

Luna drove her home, and when Echo told her the plan she was thrilled.

“I’m so happy for you. That will be great.”

“I meant what I said, by the way. I never owl have made it without you. And don’t say it was all me, because it definitely wasn’t. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, love.” Luna said, and she reached across the consul of the car, and took Echos hand.

She spent the next two days twiddling her thumbs. She didn’t have a lot of friends at school, and no one else really cared. She thanked her group home parents for everything, and kissed all of the little kids goodbye, quit her job, and was sitting on the doorstep with the suitcase Luna had given her as a kid and a backpack on the steps of the house. Her whole life in two bags.

Bellamy pulled up in his little beat up red car.

“Ready to go?”

She thought her cheeks might break in half from the smile, and she nodded, because she wasn’t sure she could speak clearly. She threw her stuff in the back and climbed in the passenger seat, where a hot coffee and a bagel were waiting for her, and didn’t look back as he drove off down the street.

They blared music, and just talked, about everything and nothing. She had convinced herself, in those three days of waiting, that it would be awkward, or uncomfortable, trapped in a car with him for days, but it wasn’t. It was nice. It felt comfortable. They traded off driving every three hours, and she napped in the middle of the day, leaning against the window, the sun warming her face. It was familiar, and it was everything she’d hoped it would be.

They drove for hours, long into the night, only stopping for gas and food, until they hit Twin Falls, Idaho, and they pulled into a motel.

The woman at the front desk was half asleep, in her early thirties, and her 6 year old was laying on a cot in the back office, and she handed them the keys to a double queen bed room, and sent them on their way.

The room they opened had one king bed in the middle of the room.

Bellamy just chuckled, and tossed his backpack onto the couch, heading towards the bathroom.

“I need to shower, but you should order pizza. My card is in my wallet.” He said, as he plopped his wallet down next to the tv on the dresser.

“You don’t want to go back and get the right kind of room?” She said, staring the one bed.

“She was exhausted, no need to bother her.”

“Right.” Echo whispered to herself, as Bellamy shut the door behind him.

“Call her for more towels though!” He yelled through the door, and that was that.

She called the front desk, and then she called and ordered pizza, and was sitting, reading, the fresh towels on the table and the pizza on the way, when he came out of the bathroom, in sweats and a t-shirt, his hair dripping on his shoulders, his feet bare. He stopped in his tracks on his way towards her.

“Is that…”

“The book you gave me for my birthday when I was 16? yeah.” She said, sticking the wrapping paper bookmark back in the pages.

“You still have that?”

“Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”

“I just figured… after I left… you wouldn’t have kept it.”

“Bellamy, this was the first birthday present I ever got. Of course I kept it.”

“The first… You never told me that.”

“I didn’t want you to feel sorry for me.” She said. She could feel his eyes on her, so she stood up and grabbed her pyjamas from her backpack. “I’m gonna shower too, I feel like I smell like chips and gasoline.”

He huffed out a laugh, still staring at the book, and she passed him and went into the bathroom. She spent a long time in the shower, shaving her legs and washing her hair, because she could, and because she didn’t want to face his pity. When she finally came out, lotion all over her skin, her hair in two thick braids, her pyjamas on, he had taken over one side of the bed and the pizza was sitting on the edge.

“Hungry?” He asked.

“Starving.” She plopped down next to him, legs crossed under her, and grabbed a slice, and the comfortable air came back. The book stayed on the table all night, and he never brought it back up.

They had settled in, watching some old rerun movie on the tv, when she drifted off to sleep.

She woke up early, to the sun peaking through a gap in the curtains, right across her eyes, to find herself wrapped around Bellamy’s back like a koala. Her leg was draped over his thigh, her arm around his midsection, and her nose tucked into the nape of his neck. The gap in the curtains was high enough that the sunshine had missed his face, so he was still sound asleep.

It was the best nights sleep she’d had in ages.

She peeled herself off of him, curling up on the other side of the bed, and falling back asleep for the last hour until his alarm went off.

If he noticed the way they had been sleeping, he didn’t mention it, and neither did she.

They went on like that, driving all day, just talking and laughing, eating junk food and listening to music, sleeping in crappy motels.

Every other motel gave them double queen beds.

She didn’t sleep as well any other night.

They finally drove into his apartment complex in Boone, and a strong looking girl with dark hair and bright green eyes was standing out in the parking lot, waiting for them.

“Thats Lexa. She’s pretty intense, but she’s cool.”

“Gotcha.”

Lexa introduced herself, and helped them bring their bags upstairs, and showed Echo to the room that was left open for her.

“Raven is gone for the summer, just until classes start back up, but Bellamy said you’d be in the dorms anyway?”

“Yeah, thanks for letting me stay for a while.” She said, trying not to crawl back inside herself and give in to her nature of pulling back.

“Sure thing.” Lexa said, and that was that.

Living with Bellamy had been great and awful all at once, because it just kept reminding her how wonderful he was, and how much she was in love with him, while also reminding her how unattainable he was.

The summer flew by. Soccer camp started early, and she was so busy she barely had time to think, and then before she knew it it was freshmen orientation week. 

She was a college student.

She moved into her dorm, with a roommate named Emori, and that was it. 

School got underway, and soccer kept her busy as a bee, but she still had dinner with Bellamy at least 3 nights a week, even if it was just dinning hall food, and her heart ached.

She made friends on the team, Harper, another freshman, was the first one to bring her into the fold during summer training, and they were almost insuperable now. Her boyfriend Monty got on great with Raven, and so now her friends were a group. She would bring Emori sometimes, but that didn’t kick off until she introduced Emori to Bellamy’s friend Murphy.

Talk about sparks.

They had movie nights, and pizza nights, and she’d fall asleep on his couch more weekend nights than not, and she just _loved_ him.

And she loved her new life.

And then Bellamy brought Roma to a party.

She watched him dote on her, bringing her drinks, holding her hand, guiding her through the party with a hand on her back, kissing into her cheek warmly, kissing her soundly when they would tuck away in to a corner to be alone, and her heart ached with it.

Roma had been around for about a month when Raven cornered her.

“You love him.” Raven said, standing next to her on the balcony of their apartment, looking out over the campus below. It wasn’t a question, but Echo nodded anyway.

“You should say something.”

“He’s with someone else.”

“So?”

“I won’t do that to someone else. I wont take away someone else’s person.”

“But he was your person first.”

“Not like that he wasn’t. He doesn’t see me that way.”

“He drove across the country to surprise you for your graduation. I think it’s safe to say all he needs is a little push, just to know that it’s an option, and he’d be there.”

Echo just stared straight ahead.

“Well, whatever you decide to do, just… be kind to yourself.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well… don’t not say anything because you’re worried you’re not enough for him. If thats what this is really about.” Raven alway seemed to be able to cut right to the core of the issue. Such a no bullshit personality.

Echo just nodded, almost at no one, and Raven went back into the party, brushing her hand over Echo’s shoulder as she went.

She didn’t say anything, and Roma came and went.

“She dumped me.”

“She what? Why?”

“I have no idea.” He muttered, staring at the ceiling of her dorm room from where he was sprawled out across her bed. It would smell like him tonight when she went to sleep, she could already tell.

“Well she’s stupid. Who’s better than you.” She said, matter of factly, as she scribbled notes in the margins of her english book.

“Whatever. She was kinda boring anyway.”

“You’re a catch, you’ll find someone. Also you’re like… 20, so its not like you are running out of time or anything.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“Anytime. Here to help.” She said, half listening.

He climbed down from the bed, and settled into Emori’s desk chair that stood empty, and tugged Echo away from her books.

“Bellamy, I have to finish this reading.”

“Echo, I have to talk to you.” He said, in a slightly mocking tone. She rolled her eyes at him.

“Alright, fine. What is it?” She resided herself to always giving in to whatever he wanted immediately, because she had no idea how to say no to him.

He didn’t say anything, just kept looking at her, his mouth hanging a little open like the words he’d wanted to say got lost somewhere between his throat and the backs of his teeth.

“What?” She said, trying not to curl back into herself.

He looked like he was about to say something, but then he changed his mind, and instead he just smiled. “Can i stay here tonight? My class is in Belk in the morning and your dorm is way closer than my apartment.” He said, leaning back. She could tell it was something else, but she just let it go.

“Sure, but you better not be a blanket stealer.”

“Hey, we’ve shared a bed before and I wasn’t one.” She felt her face warm at the memory.

“Yeah but that was a king bed, hard to steal that many covers. This bed is way smaller.”

“Fair point.” He said. He flopped up on her bed, reading his own school book, and was still there after she came back from her shower.

“Scoot over, make space.”

“So pushy.”

“This is MY bed.” She reminded him, a little haughty. He just laughed at her.

The laid down, side by side, arms on top of each other to fit, and eventually, she fell asleep.

She woke up and she was had to remind herself they weren’t in Idaho, because she was in the exact same place.

But this time, she could tell he was awake.

His breathing was shallow, and he was tracing small patterns on the back of her hand that was draped over her.

She tried not to let him know she was awake, but her uneven breathing tipped him off, and he carefully rolled over, until their noses were brushing. She glanced over, and it looked like Emori hadn’t been home.

He brought a hand up and brushed his thumb across her cheekbone, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She felt her heart beat in her finger tips.

He leaned in, just a little, like he was going to kiss her, and she almost let him, until her brain caught up with what her heart was doing.

“Don’t.” She said.

He went to pull away, mumbling an ‘I’m sorry’ under his breath, but she pulled him back.

“I don’t want you to kiss me if you don’t mean it.”

“What?”

All she could hear besides his breathing and her own was her own pulse thumping. She yanked the courage up from where it was tucked in the pits of her gut, and said it.

“I am in love with you. I have been since I was 14. So you can’t kiss me if you don’t mean it. I can’t handle that.” He didn’t recoil from her, or get up and run, which she assumed was a good sign.

But he also didn’t say much of anything at all.

She realised her eyes were closed, like she was trying to hide from him, so she slowly opened them.

HIs face was soft, and warm, and there was something in his eyes that made her not afraid of what he was going to say.

“Okay.” Was all he said. She wasn’t sure what it meant, and her mouth got ahead of her brain.

“Okay like you wont kiss me because you don’t love me?”

He just huffed out a little laugh, his warm breath across her nose, and lifted himself up to roll over on top of her.

She felt the air all rush from her lungs at the feeing of his warmth pressing down on her whole body.

He brushed his nose against hers again.

“Since you were fourteen?” He whispered.

She wanted to be annoyed, to tease him, but all she could do was nod, just a little, their noses still so close the movement made them bump against each other again.

“Okay.” He said again, just as soft. He leaned in until his lips were just a hair away from hers, where she could almost feel them. Her whole body was shaking.

“I’ve been in love with you since you were so blunt about Octavia. I wasn’t sure that’s what it was then, but you were the first person to tell me I deserved more. It scared me. But then I had to leave, and I thought I’d never see you again. When I saw your name and where you were from on the list of students for tours I begged my supervisor to let me, because I had to see you again. Getting you back in my life was the best thing that ever happened to me, Echo.” He was still a breath away from her lips, and she could hardly believe what she was hearing.

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

“So when you came to my graduation…”

“Yeah. I was in love with you then.”

“And all this time…”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” She whispered, because it was all she could think of to say. He laughed, just a little, and she leaned up and kissed him.

His lips were soft, and warm, and his scruff was rough against her chin, his body warm across hers and his hands soft against her cheek and her back where he had wrapped himself around her.

She was pretty sure nothing in her whole life had ever made her feel like this.

Safe.

Warm.

Happy.

 _Loved_.

He _loved_ her.

They kissed for a minute, and then his alarm went off, and the bubble around them burst. He climbed down from her bed, helping her down after him, and then he turned to reach for his bathroom caddie, but she stopped him, pulling him back into her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, threading her fingers into his hair, and kissed him again. Because she could. Because she wanted too. His hands were wide, spanning across her ribcage, holding her close, pulling her in, and the soft satisfied noise he made when she pulled him close made her feel like she was floating.

She pulled back from the kiss, resting their foreheads together.

“You love me?” She whispered, hoping it wasn’t a dream.

“You love ME?” He whispered back, like he felt the same.

They stood their, for a breath, like the weight of it was just now settling on their shoulders. He cupped her face, tipping it down to kiss her forehead, and then he grabbed his stuff and went to get ready for his day.

She got dressed, and went to the bathroom too, in a daze the whole time. She almost put lotion on her toothbrush, but eventually she was ready, and when she got back to her room he was leaning against her bed frame, his backpack on, hers in his hand.

She stood, just looking at him.

He was _hers_. The first person in her life to ever be truly _hers_. 

“Ready to go?” He asked, holding out her bag.

“Yeah, okay.” She answered, pulling the straps on, and letting him lace their fingers together, leading her out into the hall, and out into the world.


End file.
